Retired Alaska Airlines Captain Accused Of Piloting Plane While Under The Influence

How is it .10? I thought .04, no?

Sec. 91.17

Alcohol or drugs.

(a) No person may act or attempt to act as a crewmember of a civil aircraft--
(1) Within 8 hours after the consumption of any alcoholic beverage;
(2) While under the influence of alcohol;
(3) While using any drug that affects the person's faculties in any way contrary to safety; or
[(4) While having an alcohol concentration of 0.04 or greater in a blood or breath specimen. Alcohol concentration means grams of alcohol per deciliter of blood or grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath.]

Before I interviewed where I now work, I went through several interview questions and one of them was what do you do if you encounter or suspect the other pilot has been drinking or is drunk (proof such as slurred speech, smell of alcohol, blood shot eyes, other) . We were encouraged to tell the other crew member to call in sick right immediately and to get help in the EAP program. If that person would not take themselves out of the cockpit, you need to tell them either they are leaving or I was. And if I leave, I will tell crew tracking why I am getting out and then your license and career will be in trouble. Bottom line is you cannot fly drunk or if you are the other pilot, you cannot fly with knowledge that the other pilot is impaired. If we can, we need to get those help when and where we can. I will also say that we can not always tell when the other pilot has been drinking or impaired.

On the other side of this issue, Not to long ago, a passenger made a comment to one of our captains about him being drunk or impaired. The captain, even though he had not been drinking and was fit to fly, took the remark seriously, called in sick and immediately requested a breathalyzer to prove he was not impaired. That comment delayed the flight 4 hours.

I suspect the tests weren't quite that "random' if he was still that pickled after 6 hours of flying. Sad to say I have seen this movie on my part 135 end of the business. I'll never understand how they think! And assaulting him with "the book" would be appropriate.

The flying public expects 'licensed pilots' to police 'licensed pilots' when individuals are not fit to operate or fly the aircraft. This principle about professionals self-policing others in their profession applies to law enforcement officers, physicians, nurses, train operators, ship captains, etc. All Lives Matters!

I once worked with a closet alky; I've seen firsthand how coordination goes sloppy. A .13 BAC is way more than just a couple beers. No excuse!

8 inches from bottle to throttle - just keep it in the cupholder between the seats

12 hours bottle to throttle - or do they say 24 :)

An acquaintance always had a Coke can working.....filed with Vodka. How he kept his license was always a mystery.

At .13 at John Wayne, I wonder how he got to the airport in San Diego. Did he 'refuel' in Portland? I wonder if he could be charged for DUI in California on this.
For some reason I think the drug/alcohol test wasn't completely random.

Very interesting, under Federal pressure the stateS were required to change their DWI-DUI presumptive levels to .08%, while the federal flight standard remained at .10%.